The Lost Seas

Tyrian Guard

The Tyrian Guard is the organized military force of Tyr. Through the past millennia, it has been a respected military force in the Tyr Region—perhaps not as storied as its principal rivals, the “never defeated” Urikites, but robust enough to hold its own against innumerable wars and invasions over the past several thousand years. Bards still sing of the Tyrian Guard shattering attacking Kalidnese legions, and Kalidnay has not been a city-state for thousands of years.

Under Kalak, the Guard comprised about 5,000 fighting men, with 1,000-2,000 spread out across the region at strategic locations such as the iron mines and along the road to Silver Spring and the rest serving as city guards and city defense for Tyr. The Tyrian Guard was broadly divided into two branches: the Home Guard (covering Tyrian soldiers in the immediate vicinity of Tyr, including city patrols and wall defense) and the Guard Afield (covering the rest of the military stationed in forts and strategic locations throughout the region), both reporting to King Kalak, who generally gave priority and preferential funding to the Home Guard; when conflict threatened, Kalak would assign units and materiel to the Guard Afield commensurate with Tyr’s commitment to the conflict at hand, sometimes swelling the ranks of the Guard Afield to 4,000 fighting men or more. The commander of each branch of the Guard was titled Strategos and was a templar appointed by Kalak. As with most of the Athasian city-state militaries, the commissioned officers and entire leadership structure consisted of templars, many of whom had been (at best) trained in a military academy and did not have much on-the-ground war experience.

When Kalak was assassinated, Strategos Gevello of the Home Guard suddenly found himself stripped of his sorcerer-king-granted powers. Seeing the winds of change, he quickly brought the Home Guard under the command of King Tithian, and their support was invaluable to maintaining order in the city of Tyr following the assassination. Strategos Haamdan of the Guard Afield, however, was at a distant fort when the assassination occurred. Though stripped of his templar-granted powers, Haamdan (an intimidating half-giant ardent) retained his formidable psionic skills, as did many of his psionic templar officers. They immediately decamped to Urik, taking three hundred men with them, where they swore allegiance to Hamanu and became Urikites.

After the assassination of Kalak, many of the templar commanders of the military were pushed out—either to “retire” into professorships at Tyr’s military college or moved into civil administration positions. Many others were killed by their own men (especially in outposts of the Guard Afield). This paved the way for non-templar NCOs, who had always been limited in their career advancement, to move into higher positions of command, and indeed the lieutenant to Strategos Gevello now is Elias of Minthur, a non-templar officer. Rikus was named Strategos of the Guard Afield and the Crimson Legion was formed as a branch of the Guard Afield. However, Rikus showed little interest in commanding the Guard Afield (preferring instead to command his fellow former gladiators in the Crimson Legion) and disdained the title of Strategos, and the Guard Afield has over the past year been consolidated with the Home Guard under the leadership of Strategos Gevello, forming a more unified Tyrian Guard. While Rikus and the Crimson Legion officially now report to Strategos Gevello, Rikus generally still considers himself to report primarily to King Tithian, and Tithian has repeatedly supported Rikus’ autonomy.

Today, the military of Tyr is generally considered to consist of two parts: the Tyrian Guard, which is commanded by Stratego Gevello and comprises a little under 5,000 men spread from the iron mines to the distant Tyrian forts near Silver Spring, and the Crimson Legion, which is commanded by Rikus and comprises 1,000 ex-gladiators and spends much of its time roving the region hunting down threats.